Dementieva breezes through to last four

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:59

Fresh off her gold-medal winning performance at the Beijing Olympics, the fifth-seeded Russian breezed past the 15th seed from Switzerland 6-2 6-3 in just 76 minutes.

Schnyder held her first service game but was broken on her second and, when Dementieva broke again to establish a 4-1 advantage the first set was as good as over.

The second set looked to be following a similar pattern when the Moscow-born player secured an early break to go 3-1 up, but Schnyder battled back well and took advantage of her first break-point opportunity to level matters at 3-3.

However, Dementieva quickly snuffed out any hope her opponent had of getting back into the match by immediately breaking back and racing through the next two games to clinch victory.

Dementieva has been dominant at this hardcourt event, winning all 10 sets played at the tournament and not even needing a tie-breaker in the process.

Still in search of her first major championship, Dementieva has made at least the last eight in each of the last three grand slams. She was eliminated in the semi-finals at Wimbledon and was ousted in the quarters at the French Open.

Competing in her 41st grand slam event and 11th US Open, Dementieva has not even reached the final of a major championship since this event in 2004. But if her current play is any indication, that slump may be coming to an end.

The 26-year-old has now won 11 consecutive matches on hardcourts.

Dementieva, who could possibly reach the world number one ranking upon completion of the tournament, won in Dubai in March before claiming the gold in Beijing. She has not won three WTA Tour tournaments in one year since 2003.

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